- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 11 November 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Angela Constance on 25 November 2024
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish the brief that it provided to the former chief executive of the Scottish Law Commission to inform and instruct his report regarding the offices of the Lord Advocate and the Solicitor General.
Answer
The brief will be included with the published report.
- Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 11 November 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 25 November 2024
To ask the Scottish Government whether the executive director of qualifications and assessment at the Welsh Joint Education Committee (WJEC) was involved in the review of Higher History in 2024.
Answer
The 2024 Higher History review is an operational matter for the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) in its independent role as an examination body. The Scottish Government accepts the findings of the review.
Richard Harry, Executive Director of Qualifications and Assessment at the Welsh Joint Education Committee (WJEC), Wales’ largest awarding body, independently peer reviewed the report and agreed that its conclusions and recommendations are supported by evidence.
- Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 18 November 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Paul McLennan on 25 November 2024
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the evidence in the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee report, Remote and Rural Healthcare Inquiry, what steps it is taking to deliver more affordable homes for healthcare workers in rural and remote settings.
Answer
The Scottish Government remain committed to delivering 110,000 affordable homes by 2032 of which at least 10% will be in rural and island areas.
Up to £25 million is also being made available from our affordable housing supply programme budget over the period 2023-2028 in the form of the demand led Affordable Homes for Key Workers Fund. The funding is available to support local authorities and registered social landlords to purchase existing suitable properties in rural and island areas for key workers where there is identified need.
We continue to work closely with partners to deliver the right homes in the right places and it is for local authorities through their Local Housing Strategies and Strategic Housing Investment Plans to identify the type, location, size and tenure of homes required in their areas.
- Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 18 November 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Paul McLennan on 25 November 2024
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the recommendations in the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee report, Remote and Rural Healthcare Inquiry, what steps it is taking to repurpose vacant (a) local authority and (b) NHS properties for use as accommodation for healthcare workers.
Answer
Local authorities, as statutory housing authorities, working with The Empty Homes Partnership continue to tackle empty homes as a priority, bringing more homes back to use as warm, safe and secure permanent housing. Our investment of £3.7 million investment in the Scottish Empty Homes Partnership is making a real difference with almost 11,000 homes returned to use since 2010.
Social landlords (local authorities and housing associations) are responsible for the allocation of social housing. They must develop and publish allocation policies, within a broad legal framework for social housing allocations. Our Social housing allocations in Scotland: practice guide was published in 2019 and provides practical assistance to staff with responsibility for reviewing, monitoring and updating allocation policies and procedures to ensure they comply with current legislation.
- Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 18 November 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Paul McLennan on 25 November 2024
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the recommendations in the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee report, Remote and Rural Healthcare Inquiry, in what ways it will work with (a) local residents, (b) property owners and (c) tourist accommodation providers to offer temporary accommodation to health workers on placement.
Answer
The Scottish Government’s approach to the planning and delivery of affordable housing is focussed on providing the right homes in the right places.
We remain committed to delivering 110,000 permanent affordable homes by 2032 with at least 70% for social rent and at least 10% in rural and island areas.
We continue to work closely with partners to deliver the right homes in the right places and it is for local authorities through their Local Housing Strategies and Strategic Housing Investment Plans to identify the type, location, size and tenure of homes required in their areas.
- Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Falkirk West, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 15 November 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Fairlie on 25 November 2024
To ask the Scottish Government when it will take forward a pilot scheme with farms to establish an appropriate uptake of methane suppressing feed products and additives.
Answer
On 18 April 2024, the Cabinet Secretary for Wellbeing Economy, Net Zero and Energy made a statement to the Scottish Parliament confirming that the Scottish Government’s ambition and legal commitment to reach net zero by 2045 remains unchanged.
In the statement the Cabinet Secretary for Wellbeing Economy, Net Zero and Energy announced several new measures aimed at accelerating Scotland’s journey to net zero, including a pilot scheme with some Scottish farms to establish future appropriate uptake of methane supressing feed products.
There has been significant development in this area in recent years and it is taking time to develop the details of a pilot which could explore options for recognising appropriate use of these products and other practices which can reduce greenhouse gas emissions on farms. Further information on the timetable of a pilot project will be shared as soon as possible.
- Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 18 November 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Neil Gray on 25 November 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the role that third sector healthcare providers have in delivering services to patients in remote and rural settings, separate to services provided through NHS boards.
Answer
The Scottish Government does not hold a central assessment of Third Sector healthcare provision. We do however recognise the role of the Third sector in areas such as palliative care and published the draft Palliative Care Strategy – Palliative Care Matters for All – for public consultation on 2 October 2024. The consultation will close on 10 January 2025, and the responses will inform the development of the final Strategy, which we aim to publish in 2025.
- Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 15 November 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 25 November 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the impact and extent of the decision to increase employer national insurance contributions on the retail sector in Scotland.
Answer
The majority of taxation powers – including over National Insurance Contributions – remain reserved to the UK Government.
Given the potential impact for businesses across the country, the UK Government should have looked across the range of tax powers at their disposal before pushing through this increase to Employer NICs.
It is disappointing that the UK Government failed to engage with the Scottish Government on this significant policy change in advance, and I am concerned about the additional pressure this decision places on the retail sector in Scotland.
The Scottish Government recognises how vital the Retail sector is to Scotland’s economy. Shops and retailers support local communities, attract people into our towns and cities, utilise local supply chains, offer fulfilling employment and support other economic sectors such as tourism and hospitality.
Scotland’s Retail sector makes a significant contribution to Scotland’s economy, comprising 14,325 registered businesses in 2023, accounting for 8.3% of Scotland’s total, and contributing £5.9 billion in gross value added (2021), equivalent to around 4.0% of all Scottish GVA. It is also a major employer, employing 227,000 people in 2022, accounting for 8.7% of all employment in Scotland.
Scottish Ministers maintain that the Scottish Government must be engaged as a priority on reserved tax changes so that we can prepare for the potential impact.
The Scottish Government is committed to supporting the country’s Retail industry, and we will continue to engage directly with the sector.
- Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 15 November 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Neil Gray on 22 November 2024
To ask the Scottish Government how many calls to the Scottish Ambulance Service made in the last year have been taken from sites outside of Scotland.
Answer
At times of peak demand callers may have to wait longer for their call to be answered. Because of this, the Scottish Ambulance Service utilises the Intelligent Routing Platform (IRP) where, after waiting for 180 seconds, a caller is transferred to the next available call handler at another UK ambulance service.
The IRP is utilised by all other UK ambulance services.
The call is then sent back through a digital gateway to the appropriate regional Scottish Ambulance Service Ambulance Control Centre, who have local knowledge, and will dispatch the most appropriate resource.
Below is the number of calls between November 2023 and October 2024 that were transferred to another UK ambulance service from Scotland. It is important to note that over the last 12 months the Scottish Ambulance Service has answered 1,066,121 calls so the number of patients whose calls are answered by an ambulance service outwith Scotland is incredibly low.
November 2023 – 137
December - 28
January 2024 - 10
February - 6
March - 10
April - 4
May - 16
June - 13
July - 27
August - 12
September - 84
October - 183
- Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 14 November 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom Arthur on 22 November 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what steps it has taken to improve the (a) collection and (b) availability of information on (i) underemployment and (ii) its causes.
Answer
Data on underemployment and its causes is collected for Scotland by the Office for National Statistics’ (ONS) Labour Force Survey (LFS) and Annual Population Survey (APS).
The Scottish Government publishes its own analysis on underemployment in Scotland based on the ONS LFS and APS data. The most recent publication including this data is Scotland’s Labour Market Insights: July 2024 publication. This can be found at: https://www.gov.scot/publications/scotlands-labour-market-insights-july-2024/pages/people-in-work. The report highlights that an estimated 5.9 per cent of those in employment in Scotland were underemployed, the joint lowest in the series.
The Scottish Government is working with Welsh and Northern Irish Governments and our colleagues in ONS to better understand and to guide improvements in the collection of this data.
